The situation at a glance: Israel comes under pressure because of the occupation of the West Bank

With a new resolution in the UN General Assembly, the Palestinians want to increase pressure on Israel to withdraw from occupied territories. A number of states requested a meeting of the largest UN body to vote on a resolution that would enforce the implementation of a legal opinion of the highest UN court on the Middle East conflict. This could take place on Tuesday, September 17.

In July, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague ruled in a legal opinion that the occupation of the Palestinian territories was illegal and had to be ended as soon as possible. Israel ignored this. The UN General Assembly is now due to vote on a resolution next Tuesday which, among other things, demands that “Israel must end its illegal presence in the occupied Palestinian territory” within twelve months. Traditionally, there is a large majority in the United Nations for Palestinian concerns and against Israeli ones.

Israel conquered and occupied the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem in the Six-Day War of 1967. The Palestinians claim these areas for their own state, which should be established alongside Israel and which most countries in the world, including Germany, still support today. Israel left the Gaza Strip in 2005, but continues to control the borders by land, sea and air.

Meeting in Madrid calls for end to Gaza war

Since October 7 of last year, Israel has been waging a bloody war against the Islamist Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The war was triggered by the unprecedented massacre carried out by terrorists from Hamas and other groups in southern Israel. 1,200 people were killed and another 250 were taken hostage. On the Palestinian side, more than 41,000 people have died since then, according to the Hamas-controlled health authority, although no distinction is made between fighters and civilians.

The pro-Iranian Shiite militia Hezbollah has been attacking northern Israel with rockets and drones since October 8, claiming to be acting in solidarity with Hamas. Israel has responded with air strikes on Hezbollah positions and cadres in southern Lebanon, but also deep inside its northern neighbor.

At a meeting of high-ranking politicians from several European, Asian and African countries, participants called for an end to the Gaza war. They had come together in Madrid “to push for an end to the war in Gaza and for the implementation of the two-state solution,” Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares said on Platform X.

“The two-state solution is the only way to a just and lasting peace,” said Albares after the meeting. More urgent, however, are a ceasefire, the release of the hostages still held by Hamas and a massive increase in humanitarian aid for the Gaza Strip.

The term two-state solution refers to an independent Palestinian state that exists peacefully side by side with Israel. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejects a two-state solution, as does Hamas, which has set itself the goal of destroying Israel.

The left-wing government in Madrid is one of the harshest critics of Israel’s military actions in Gaza in Europe. In addition to Spain, the EU countries Ireland and Slovenia as well as the NATO member Norway recognized Palestine as an independent state in early summer.

The meeting in Madrid was attended by EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa, Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Abul Gheit, as well as ministers and representatives from Norway, Ireland, Slovenia, Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain, among others.

Deaths in Israeli military operation in the West Bank

The Israeli military said it had killed six Palestinian militants in the last 48 hours during an anti-terror operation in the northern West Bank. Five armed men were killed in a targeted air strike in the town of Tubas, the military said in a statement. A sixth militant was shot dead in the Fara refugee settlement in Tubas when he threw explosives at Israeli soldiers.

Meanwhile, the UN Palestinian relief agency UNRWA announced that one of its employees had been shot dead by snipers on the roof of his house in Fara. The agency stressed that this was the first case in ten years in which an employee had died violently in the West Bank. The Israeli military subsequently announced that the UNRWA employee who had been killed was the man who had attacked Israeli soldiers with explosives. Although he was employed by UNRWA, the man had already attracted the attention of the occupying military for “terrorist activities”. The information could not initially be independently verified.

First phase of polio vaccinations in Gaza completed

Meanwhile, a rare ray of hope can be reported from the war-ravaged Gaza Strip: The first round of the vaccination campaign against the polio virus has been successfully completed. This was reported by the head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, in Geneva. A good 560,000 children under the age of ten have received a first dose of the vaccine. There were no major incidents. The campaign lasted just under two weeks. The children will all need a second dose of the vaccine in four weeks to be protected from infection.

The WHO and partner organizations had negotiated spatial and temporary ceasefires with Israel and Hamas so that families could bring their children to vaccination centers or mobile vaccination teams could reach families. The Gaza Strip was polio-free for 25 years. However, polio was detected in a child with paralysis symptoms this summer. The virus spreads in unsanitary and cramped conditions such as those in the Gaza Strip.

A large proportion of the approximately two million inhabitants have been displaced since the start of the Israeli military action almost eleven months ago because their neighborhoods were bombed and some of their homes destroyed.